Com. V.A.N.Namboodiri, Advisor, AIBDPA met Shri Anupam Shrivastava, CMD BSNL on 29th April 2016 and pressed for early restoration of the medical allowance to the pensioners, which was withdrawn earlier on the plea of lack of funds. The hardships being faced by the retired officials were brought to the notice of the CMD BSNL in detail. Com. Namboodiri stated that even the National Council, the priority of restoring it to pensioners has been demanded.

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The meeting of ‘main stake holders’ of BCPC convened on 16-04-2016 at Gurudwara Singh Sabha, Janakpuri, Delhi for revival of BCPC decided to hold a full fledged General Body Meeting according to constitutional provision during August/September, 2016 for election of office bearers. The meeting was presided over by Com.S.C.Maheswari, Chairman, BCPC and was addressed by Com.K.K.N.Kutty, Secretary General, NCCPA, Com.N.M.Sasthry, Advisor, BCPC, Com.V.A.N.Namboodiri, Advisor, K.G.Jayaraj General Secretary, AIBDPA Com.K.Raghavendran, General Secretary, AIPRPA and others.

The meeting was called by the Chairman to revive the functioning of BCPC which had become almost defunct after the sad demise of Com.S.K.Vyas, Secretary General.

Coms. V.A.N.Nambbodiri and K.G.Jayaraj, General Secretary represented AIBDPA in the meeting.

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According to an RTI reply, there are 13,75,483 Railways Pensioners at present, out of which 2.86 lakhs are in the range of 80-90 years old. The total number of pensioners in Railways are liable to be more than the existing workers. This is mainly because, the retirements are more comparing to the new recruitment. This is the condition of most of the central government establishments. It was reported earlier that while there are about 40 lakh CG employees, the pensioners number is around 52 lakh.

In order to improve the services, fresh blood is required and there should be adequate recruitment. There should be strong pressure from the unions for increased recruitment. The ban on recruitment should be rescinded. It will result in jobs for the youngsters who are jobless. Is the government hearing?

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New Delhi, Sep 9: The Centre today increased dearness allowance for its employees to 119 per cent from 113 per cent, a move that will benefit 50 lakh employees and 56 lakh pensioners.

“Every six months government reviews dearness allowance. This time we have decided to increase DA by six per cent over exiting 113 per cent rate,” Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told reporters after Union Cabinet meeting here.

An official statement said the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved release of an additional instalment of Dearness Allowance to central government employees and Dearness Relief to Pensioners from July 1, 2015.

This represents an increase of 6 per cent over the existing rate of 113 per cent of the Basic Pay/Pension, to compensate for price rise, it said.

The decision will benefit about 50 lakh government employees and 56 lakh pensioners, it added

The increase is in accordance with the accepted formula, which is based on the recommendations of the 6th Central Pay Commission (CPC), it said.

The combined impact on the exchequer on account of both DA and DR will be Rs 6,655.14 crore per annum, and Rs 4,436.76 crore in the financial year 2015-16 (a period of 8 months from July, 2015 to February, 2016), it said.

As per the practice, the DA rate increase is an average of 12-month consumer price index-industrial workers from July 1, 2014 to June 30, 2015.

In April, the government had hiked DA by 6 per cent to 113 per cent of their basic pay with effect from January. DA is paid as proportion of the basic pay. (PTI)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has stated that the One Rank One Pension for Army Pensioners will be implemented from 2014. But the Army Veterans who are on Indefinite Hunger Strike are not satisfied by the details of the decision. While they have stated to stop the Indefinite hunger Strike, they will continue Relay hunger Strike, till all their concerns are addressed.

Pensioners in Para Military, Defence Civilian as also CG Employees are watching the scenario. It is only justice that the pensioners in all these sectors are also granted OROP.

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Reports about the starting of the two days hunger strike on 21-22 July 2015 by the BSNL-DOT Pensioners, as per the call of the All India BSNL DOT Pensioners Association (AIBDPA) have started reaching the CHQ. The Hunger strike is being organised for settlement of the demands like 78.2% IDA Pension fixation, restoration of Medical Allowance to BSNL retirees, increase of the Medical Allowance to DOT retirees, Pension Revision etc. Thousands of senior citizens are participating in the hunger strike despite their age related problems.

We demand the government and the BSNL Management to settle the issues without further delay. Our Hearty Congratulations to the participants in the Hunger Strike.

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It is reported in Economic Times dated 13th June 2015, that there are about 6.05 lakh centenarians in the country and out of them about 5 lakhs are pensioners!

The information has been collected on the basis of the payment made to the pensioners through the banks. However, now the government has asked the banks to verify the list of pensioners to find out whether the same is the correct figure.

If there are 5 lakh pensioners in the country above 100 years, it is a good sign. But it is almost unbelievable since there are only a total of about 6 lakh centenarians in the country.

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Pensioners belong to the weaker section. They require continuous care and medical treatment to keep up their health. It is with this concern that it was decided that Medical Allowance with out voucher will be paid to the employees as well as pensioners.

But in the name of loss to the company, BSNL has stopped this allowance arbitrarily, three years back. The Forum of BSNL Unions/associations, as well as BSNLEU, had taken up the case of restoration of this allowance, both to employees and pensioners. As a first step, the staff side in the National Council as also AIBDPA demanded that at least the medical Allowance to the Pensioners be restored. A sympathetic attitude was expected from the BSNL Management. But so far, nothing has moved in this respect.

We demand that the BSNL Management should take immediate action to restore the Medical Allowance to the Pensioners.

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The pensioners on the path of struggle in Greece

Thousands of pensioners, in rallies and mobilizations in over 20 cities, who had responded to the call of the pensioners’ organizations, demonstrated yesterday and demanded the payment of the Easter bonus to everyone, the restoration of pensions and rights to pre-crisis levels and the abolition of the anti-people laws. They also demanded exclusively public and free healthcare and medical cover.

At the meeting the delegation of the pensioners had at the Ministry of Labour, the deputy minister of Social Security, Dimitris Stratoulis, merely repeated the position of the government regarding the return of the Christmas bonus to the poorest pensioners, without answering the demand for the immediate return of the Easter bonus. He also repeated that the government will not further reduce the pensions. So, in essence, the SYRIZA-ANEL government refused to make any commitment in relation to the just demands of the pensioners.

Dimos Koumpouris, president of the Pensioners’ Federation and member of the CC of the KKE, speaking to the demonstrators, stressed that the issue is not merely for the pensions not to be further reduced, as the pensioners today can no longer deal with their problems. He called on the pensioners to be vigilant, as the government’s negotiations with the lenders are being carried out with the same rationale as the previous government had. He underlined that the pensioners will continue to fight to recover what has been taken from them and prioritize the issues of pensions and healthcare

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Today, I had the chance to attend the Central Managing Committee meeting of the All India Postal and RMS Pensioners Association( AIPRPA), which was held at North Avenue, New Delhi. The meeting was presided over by Com.D.K.Rahate, President of the Association. Com. K.Raghavendran, General Secretary and Com. Rajendra Prasad, Reception Committee welcomed all. The leaders were all received with garlands.

In my inaugural speech, I mentioned about the problems of the Pensioners, the memorandum submitted jointly by Pensioners Associations and also the TU (P and R) Congress held at Barcelona, Spain. I also greeted the house on behalf of the AIBDPA. Com.S.K.Vyas, veteran leader of the Central Government Employees and Secretary General of BCPC, spoke about the organisation and also about the details of the discussion with VII CPC by BCPC. Com. Seethalaxmi, General Secretary, P-IV also addressed.

I am very happy that the AIPRPA has organised its units in most of the circles, within a few months of its formation. Congratulations to the leaders and workers of AIPRPA!